Mom of gay 9/11 hero Mark Bingham remembers

It was 11 years ago today that Alice Hoagland lost her son, Mark Bingham, in the September 11 terrorist attacks against the US.

Bingham was a gay man who among the heroes on United Flight 93 who are thought to have fought their hijackers. The plane went down in Pennsylvania instead of a government building in Washington D.C. as was planned.

‘I’m grateful to reach out to all who’ve heard Mark Bingham’s story and are drawn to his simple message of bravery and love,’ Hoagland writes in a column for The Advocate. ‘Being Mark’s mother has been in turns difficult, frightening, whimsical, beautiful and downright fun. Mark taught me, by his example, simple profound life lessons.’

‘He demonstrated love, loyalty, and courage throughout his brief life, and especially in the manner in which he died: alongside newfound friends, fighting bad guys, against impossible odds,’ she adds.

Bingham’s story was the subject of the documentary With You which was seen around the US film festival circuit last year.

Hoagland stays involved The Bingham Cup the LGBT biennial rugby tournament that began in San Francisco in 2002 and is named in memory of her rugby playing son.